"Did I mention it was Superman-themed?" 15 truly awkward wedding stories.

So many things can go wrong on your “special day” (Image: iStock)

Your wedding day is supposed to be the best day of your life (or one of them). So when weddings go wrong, all the pressure and expectations can make the smallest mistake look like a disaster of epic proportion.

A celebration of love can easily devolve into uncomfortable chaos — and that’s before the vows are even exchanged. Here, Redditors share their worst wedding experiences, and the results are both cringe-worthy and hilarious.

1. The bride and groom wanted to be paid.

“They started selling dances with the bride and groom for $50. Yes, this was a real wedding, not a strip club.”

2. The silent wedding.

“They had ‘I do’, etc on signs that they held up instead of actually saying it. They weren’t even going to read their vows aloud: just had them on scraps of paper that they exchanged and read silently until someone complained… No music, no drinks, nothing.”

3. When themes go wrong.

If you thought a “wedding theme” just meant the colours the bridal party wear, you are so, so naive.

“Oh, did I mention it was Superman-themed? The bridesmaids wore red low cut tanks with blue skirts and yellow knee high socks and the groom had the symbol on his tux,” divulged Redditor lip-stick-junkie.

“My parents went to one that was cat themed. Instead of bouquets the bridesmaids carried stuffed cats holding flowers down the aisle. The wedding favours were cat toys,” added theblondehippie.

Strangely, “Superman theme” is not in this list of the Mamamia team’s wedding regrets. (Post continues after video.)

4. When you have more guests than sense.

“About three times more people than expected showed up. The receiving line lasted for the entire reception, and was occasionally interrupted for family photos as family members who had been stuck in traffic arrived. They did the receiving line until every single person had been greeted. It was almost 10pm by the time they finished. Then they crammed the cake cutting, first dance, and daddy daughter dance into about 15 minutes because people wanted to go home.”

5. When no-one will put up with Bridezilla any more.

“The reception was super nice, and was clearly very well planned out by the bride with cool centrepieces, handmade favours, nice food, all that. The problem was that the bride was such a stereotypical ‘bridezilla’ the previous months that no one wanted to be there. After dinner the dancing starts. Within 15 minutes, literally the bride’s entire family leaves…

“After an hour, there’s only about 30 people still around. Of 200 guests. The bride spends the next 20 minutes dancing alone, as [the groom] doesn’t dance. Finally, she approaches the DJ, gesturing slicing her throat, and the reception abruptly ends… I’ve never felt so uncomfortable.”

6. "Wait... what are they saying?"

"My college roommate, Lauren, met this guy in Denmark the year after she graduated college. [During the wedding,] the DJ would literally play one song and then the groom's uncle, the MC of the event apparently, would introduce a video from someone on the groom's side of the family who couldn't make the wedding but had put together a 5-7 minutes video in another language congratulating them. It went song, GREETING FROM BJORN, song, CONGRATULATIONS FROM THE KNORKELSENS, song... for three hours."

7. Is it still a marriage if the bride is unconscious?

"The bride passed out. The groom and her bridesmaids held her up while the priest (who didn't drop the beat at her fainting) kept droning on. When it came time for the actual verbal exchange of vows, the bride was slapped lightly and wakened long enough to mumble incoherently.

"Her father told the priest that she agreed to the wedding and voila. The poor girl was summarily carted outside by her parents to await the ambulance that someone thought to call and her mother half-stripped the bride out of her gown and corset and ripped the headdress off with such force that it tore out a chunk of hair. Good times." (Post continues after gallery.)

 8. Yes, you can be too honest.

"The bride said in her vows that she didn't think it would last, and they fought too much but she thought she would like to try marriage."

9. It all started with a proposal... at the wrong event.

"An old coworker told me about a wedding they went to where the best man's toast turned into him proposing to his girlfriend. I would have killed the see the bride's face."

10. The groom cried - for the wrong reasons.

"The father walks the bride down the aisle, and it looks like we're in for a beautiful ceremony. But once they arrive next to the groom, the father proceeds to give the groom a lecture on how he will now be responsible for the spiritual wellbeing of the bride.

"While giving this speech, the father managed to strike a terrifying figure. The groom began to sob as he was being lectured and it could not have been more awkward for the entire congregation. We watched the father dress down the groom, speak as if the bride had no control over her own life, and cause the poor boy to spend the rest of his wedding red-eyed and runny-nosed. We all felt horrible and awkward the rest of the day."

11. Don't stop believin'.

"The ceremony involved piano covers of Journey songs. The reception involved the groom playing a forty-five minute set with his Journey cover band."

12. The Aussie wedding where everything when wrong.

"My cousin had to get married on the beach in Queensland in November and didn't have a rainy day plan. Of course, it poured. Wedding still went ahead on the beach. [There was] a gender reveal cake cut (she was pregnant with her second child) which turned out to be wrong (it was a pink cake, she ended up having another boy) and there were only about a dozen chairs for a wedding with five-ish guests so we ended up sitting on the excess gym gear outside." (Post continues after gallery.)

13. Justice is served.

"Best man (20-something) was making out with the Justice of the Peace (she was at least in her 50s, maybe 60s). This was bad enough as is, but the fun really began when the justice's husband came into the reception hall and got a little ticked off. Shoes were thrown and the best man was chased away by the old man. The marriage lasted about a year... I guess it really was a bad omen!"

14. "I don't."

"Instead of saying 'I do' the bride yelled, 'I can't do this!' and ran out. That's pretty bad, right? It got worse. As she was running out her fiance turned around and yelled 'What about the baby?!' That was how we found out the bride was pregnant."

15. Ladies, form an orderly line.

"I went to this wedding a few years ago for a friend of mine. She works with a lot of older people, so the wedding was like 75 per cent late middle aged people. At the time, I'd just gone through a bad break-up. They go to do the garter toss, and the DJ made the call for all the unmarried guys to go up. I walked up... and was the only single guy there. So I was just handed the garter. It was embarrassing. I left shortly after."

What's your awkward wedding story?